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Friday, August 5, 2011

If true, his death is a much bigger blow to the Gaddafi regime than that of his youngest brother, Saif al-Arab, who was killed by a NATO airstrike in May. Khamis, is the commander of the Khamis Brigade, one of the country's most feared fighting forces.

The US Postal Service warned on Friday that it could default on payments it owes the federal government, just days after the US government itself narrowly averted a default.

The government's mail service said it lost $3.1 billion in the period from April to June, blaming "the anemic state of the economy" and the growing popularity of electronic communications over old-fashioned letters.

As a result of its mounting losses, the US Postal Service said it would not be able to make a legally required $5.5 billion payment in September to a health-benefits trust fund.

"Absent substantial legislative change, the Postal Service will be forced to default on payments to the federal government," it said in a statement.

Dating back to 1775, the US Postal Service was once a crucial branch of the federal government, but in recent years it has come under increasing fire from critics who consider it bureaucratic and inefficient.

In July, it unveiled plans to identify nearly 3,700 under-used post offices around the United States for possible closure. The Post Office has been hemorrhaging billions of dollars in recent years.

The US Postal Service warned on Friday that it could default on payments it owes the federal government, just days after the US government itself narrowly averted a default.

The government's mail service said it lost $3.1 billion in the period from April to June, blaming "the anemic state of the economy" and the growing popularity of electronic communications over old-fashioned letters.

As a result of its mounting losses, the US Postal Service said it would not be able to make a legally required $5.5 billion payment in September to a health-benefits trust fund.

"Absent substantial legislative change, the Postal Service will be forced to default on payments to the federal government," it said in a statement.

Dating back to 1775, the US Postal Service was once a crucial branch of the federal government, but in recent years it has come under increasing fire from critics who consider it bureaucratic and inefficient.

In July, it unveiled plans to identify nearly 3,700 under-used post offices around the United States for possible closure. The Post Office has been hemorrhaging billions of dollars in recent years.

The United States lost its top-notch triple-A credit rating from Standard & Poor's Friday, in a dramatic reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy.

Michele Constantini | PhotoAlto | Getty Images

S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about growing budget deficits.

"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said in a statement.

"More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011," the statement said.

TORONTO — A Toronto man escorting his girlfriend to her home Sunday night discovered signs of entry to her house and, fearing for the woman's mother sleeping inside, searched for intruders. A man was found hiding, Toronto police said. An ensuing struggle left the intruder bleeding from stab wounds.

As frightening as the incident was, it is the charging of the boyfriend with aggravated assault, punishable by 14 years in prison, that makes the case stand out in a clutter of urban crime.

It is the latest flashpoint in the debate over self-defence and protection of property after a number of high-profile cases across Canada brought a clamour for clarity and change.

Defence lawyers said on Tuesday it's the sort of case that a defendant — the 28-year-old man charged with the stabbing — would want to be decided by a jury, where citizens can imagine themselves in a similar circumstance and ponder what they might do.

"You can defend your property, you can defend persons in your charge and you can defend yourself. In this case he can make an argument to all three, but he has to use proportional force," said Gordon Dykstra, a criminal defence attorney in Abbotsford, B.C.

"I think if he gets in front of a jury and he's halfway presentable, if he doesn't have a criminal record and makes a good case for what happened, a jury will acquit him."

But Toronto police suggest this might not be a perfect example for champions of self-defence rights.

"The man was charged because it is alleged the stabbing was excessive," said Const. Tony Vella. "It is alleged that he stabbed the man a number of times. He's fortunate to be alive."

Key to the case is that the multiple stab wounds were inflicted both inside the home and outside, Vella said, suggesting the occupants might have been able to close the door once he was outside and call police.

The scene of the incident was Parson Court, a pleasant street in west Toronto filled with large homes. The 32-year-old man who was stabbed was charged with break and enter.

Neither accused could be reached for comment.

Recent self-defence cases have not gone well for prosecutors.

Last month, Lawrence Manzer, of Burton, N.B., had a mistrial declared in charges stemming from a confrontation with intruders on his neighbour's property. Sloppy paperwork was cited as the reason.

The same month Kim Walker, a Yorkton, Sask., welder, was sentenced to eight years after a jury declined to find him guilty of murder for killing his daughter's boyfriend whom he deemed to be destroying his drug-addicted 16-year-old daughter. He was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

In May, Joseph Singleton, 46, a farmer in Taber, Alta., had his charges — for assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm, after he wounded a man who had just burgled his house with the blunt end of a hatchet — referred to an alternative measures program.

In March, prosecutors dropped gun charges against Ian Thomson, 53, of Port Colborne, Ont., who shot at three masked men caught firebombing his home while one yelled: "Are you ready to die?" The Crown said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

Out of a bill that was supposed to cut government spending and waste wherever it is found, lawmakers managed to cobble together an additional $50 billion for the U.S. Defense Department's budget, using an accounting trick to disguise the move.

Instead of cutting $400 billion from the Pentagon's budget over the next 12 years like President Barack Obama proposed in April, Republicans put their own cuts at $350 billion over the next 13 years, leaving the nation's defense apparatus an extra $50 billion it hadn't planned on.

At the time of his recommendation, President Obama said that part of the savings might come from the scheduled withdrawal of the remaining U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year, as well as a planned drawdown of forces in Afghanistan.

The deal President Obama and Senate Democrats struck with House Republicans will set up a 12-member legislative committee to look at cuts moving forward, and would mandate up to $600 billion in defense cuts if Congress cannot agree on the committee's recommendations.

Defense industry advocates and some members of Congress have cautioned that the recommendations for defense spending cuts could slice deep and may ultimately trim off much more than current numbers reflect.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth accelerated more than expected in July as private employers stepped up hiring, a development that could ease fears the economy was sliding into a fresh recession.

U.S. payrolls increased 117,000, the Labor Department said on Friday, above market expectations for an 85,000 gain. The unemployment rate dipped to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent in June, but this was mostly the result of people leaving the labor force.

The payrolls count for May and June was revised to show 56,000 more jobs added than previously reported

The report was the first encouraging piece of economic data in some time.

Fears that U.S. economy might be sliding back into recession, coupled with Europe's inability to tame its spreading debt crisis have roiled global financial markets. Economists see the odds of a recession as high as 40 percent.

Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae said it would ask for an additional $5.1 billion from taxpayers as it continues to suffer losses on loans made prior to 2009.

CNBC.com

The largest U.S. residential mortgage funds provider on Friday also reported a second-quarter net loss attributable to common shareholders of $5.2 billion, or 90 cents per share.

Including the latest funding request, Fannie Mae has needed $104 billion in government capital injections since the U.S. Treasury seized control of it in 2008 during the financial crisis. Fannie Mae has paid back $14.7 billion in dividends.

Fannie said in a statement that its second-quarter loss "reflects the continued weakness in the housing and mortgage markets, which remain under pressure from high levels of unemployment, underemployment and the prolongeddecline in home prices since their peak in the third quarter of 2006."

It said expenses related to mortgage modifications also contributed to its loss in the quarter.

RENTON, Wash. -- Police say a series of cartoons mocking officers and other city workers are criminal, and the people who posted them online are guilty of cyberstalking.

One member of the police department has already been demoted, but investigators are looking for additional parties that may be involved after another string of cartoons recently surfaced.

The cartoons, which first appeared on YouTube earlier this year, poke fun at an unnamed law enforcement agency. But Renton Police Chief Kevin Milosevich says his officers, as well as several Renton city employees, are the target.

"The purpose of these videos was to embarrass, torment and harass specific members of the police department and other city employees," he said.

Some of the animation parody real situations that have occurred in the department, Milosevich said, but other events referenced in the cartoons never took place.

"There was an investigation some time ago; however, what was in the videos was a gross exaggeration of what the investigation was all about," he said.

New polls from both Gallup and Rasmussen conclusively indicate that a majority of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum are steadfastly opposed to the actions taken by Congressional leaders this week in agreeing to raise the debt ceiling limit.

In the Rasmussen survey, just 22% of likely voters say they approve of the debt ceiling agreement, while a majority of 53% disapprove.

The same poll found that most voters, 58%, do not believe the deal will do anything to ensure a significant decrease in federal spending over the next few years. Just 35% of voters believe that meaningful deficit reduction will occur.

“During the debt ceiling debacle, voters listened to members of Congress like they were the boy who cried wolf,” says Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports,. “While official Washington obsessed over the minute-by-minute silliness, voters expected all along that the debt ceiling would be raised without making significant spending cuts.”

In a similar Gallup poll out today, Americans disapproved of the legislation, 46% to 39%.

The survey indicated that a plurality of Americans believe the deal will make the U.S. economy worse. Gallup asked: “What effect do you think the agreement will have on the U.S. economy–will it make the economy better, not have much effect, or will it make the economy worse?”

41% of Americans said it would make the economy worse, with just 17% percent believing it would make the economy better. 33% said it would have no effect.

Among Republicans, a huge majority of 64% to 26% said they disapproved of the debt deal in the Gallup Poll, with a margin of 4-to-1 against in the Rasmussen survey.